Day 14
As exciting the day was the day before
yesterday as tranquil and uneventful was the next day. Some of us had hopefully
put out their shoes and socks over night – it seems, however, that St Nicholas
didn’t quite make it all the way out here this timeL From
the beginning of the day on, we were again blessed with hot tropical weather
and an almost entirely cloudless sky (we can also tell that we are getting
closer to the tropics as we are seeing more and more white, long-tailed “Tropic
birds” circling over our heads). Winds were steady and reasonably strong, enabling
us to approach St Lucia at a nice 7 knots or more. Everyone in our little
commune used these perfect conditions to further refine their tan (Mike has by
now turned almost entirely black), continue with their reading (Dieter again
and again expressing HOW impressed he is by Thomas Mann’s short stories) or
just catching up on some sleep that was lost due to the night watch. Around
midday, I caught another small mahi-mahi (which, by the way, in Germany is
called a “Goldmakrele” – a slightly misleading name considering that neither
its appearance nor its meat really resembles that of our normal mackerel in the
slightest) which I immediately filleted and cut up for a thai fish curry. As we
still had quite a bit of tuna still left in the fridge, however, we will have
to wait for that curry for another while. In the evening, while enjoying
another platter of incredibly good (this time marinated) tuna sashimi, we
witnessed the rising of a perfectly round, crimson moon on the horizon – a
beautiful sight that really cannot be captured on any camera. With this sight
in mind and a belly filled with awesome South African “Babuti” we all gradually
disappeared into our cabins. It’s really surprising how tired we usually are at
the end of the day despite the little physical activity.
The Thula crew wish you all a happy second
advent,
Jakob